For Applicants

FELLOWSHIP CONDITIONS

The fellowship consists of a monthly salary for the postdoctoral researcher based on the salary scale of the host institution and is granted for a period of twenty-four (24) months maximum. Prolongation is not possible. Should the department wish to employ the fellow after the termination of the EuroTechPostdoc fellowship, a new contract must be drawn. Fellowships cannot be granted retroactively. Fellowships must start at the latest six (6) months after the decision date.

Application Process

Admissibility and Eligibility Criteria

EuroTechPostdoc is open to researchers regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, political views, language, age and nationality.

To be considered eligible, applicants must fulfil the following criteria:

Experience: Applicants must hold a PhD degree from a recognised university or plan to obtain a PhD degree by the time of employment or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience*.

Mobility: Researchers may not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of the host university for more than twelve (12) months in the three (3) years immediately before the call deadline.Time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention, compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.

Institutional Endorsement: Support from both the host and co-host. Please approach them early on. A standard process will be provided in the application portal. You will have to provide the email address of your supervisor and co-supervisor (please check spelling). The programme management office will approach host and co-host professors and ask them to provide the institutional endorsement. The Institutional endorsement comprises a confirmation of the availability of infrastructure, supervision and resources to successfully complete the project.

Applicants must be able to carry out full time research during the fellowship period (parental leave, sick leave, military leave and care leave are accepted).

To apply for a EurotechPostdoc fellowship, you have to create your personal account in the application portal first. The portal will guide you through the submission process. You will be able to save your current application status and continue with your application at a later stage until the application deadline. The necessary templates mandatory for completing the application can be found in the portal as well as below.

The portal for applicants will for the next call is open. Please check here.

The deadline for submission for the upcoming call is 28th February 2019, 5:00 MET. You will be able to change your application and upload updated documents until call deadline.

Please note that in order to submit your application your host and co-host have to provide an institutional endorsement. This endorsement is automatically requested by the submission system and requires the contact details of your hosts.

Please ensure well in advance to provide your host and co-host with the necessary pieces of information.

* In agreement with the Horizon 2020: 2016-2017 Work Programme for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, applicants to EuroTechPostdoc must be Experienced Researchers, namely they must, on the recruitment date (1st call: 1 August 2018; 2nd call: 1 August 2019), be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience. Full-Time Equivalent Research Experience is measured from the date when a researcher obtained the degree entitling him or her to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the researcher is recruited, even if a doctorate was never started or envisaged.

Evaluation Procedure

The full selection process is as follows:

Eligibility check

After the submission deadline, the project management office (PMO) performs an admissibility and eligibility check for all submitted applications and inform the applicants by e-mail of the outcome within two weeks.

Evaluation

At least three external independent expert reviewers are assigned to each application and one of them is appointed as senior expert. The experts will peer review and score all eligible applications according to the evaluation criteria described below. The evaluation of the applicants will be based on the main criteria Excellence (50%), Impact (30%) and Implementation (20%).

The senior expert will summarise the strengths and weaknesses of each of the three main criteria identified by the three experts and the final score into one Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) (300-500 words). The final score will be the basis for the ranking and selection of fellows.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications are assessed against criteria addressing the candidate’s ability and commitment to research, the quality of the proposed research project as well as the synergy between the research proposed and the identified host and co-host, and the impact of the research project on the career development of the candidate.

The Evaluation Panels are asked to score the applications using the following evaluation criteria:

EXCELLENCE

Threshold 3.5/5.0; Weight 0.5

Sub-criterion 1. Scientific and Technological Quality

Quality and relevance of proposed research plan

Clear and relevant methodology

Realistic plans and contingency plans

Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary aspects

Originality/Innovative nature of the project (in relation to relevant state-of-the-art)

Sub-criterion 2. Applicant Qualifications

Research experience and results (patents, publications, teaching and other results)

Qualification and background of applicant (incl. non-academic work and career breaks)

Collaboration with business partners (if relevant)

Independent thinking, creativity, leadership and mentoring abilities

Match between applicant and proposal

IMPACT

Threshold 3.5/5.0; Weight 0.3

Contribution of proposal and applicant to European excellence and competitiveness

Potential impact on fellow’s career

Appropriateness of dissemination activities

Transfer of knowledge in- and outside Europe through conferences, publications, teaching, public outreach activities, and potential for exploitation

IMPLEMENTATION

Threshold 3.5/5.0; Weight 0.2

Quality and match of proposed project and research group facilities/infrastructure, scientific framework and staff hosting the fellow

Overall coherence, effectiveness and appropriateness of the work plan (including milestones and expected results)

Finding a host and co-host

During the online application process, applicants will assign their research proposal to a research area as described on the website and provide

the contact details of intended host and co-host. The hosts are freely chosen by the applicant, though however validated during the submission process to ensure their capacity to host the applicant’s project. For more information about research topics within the different research areas see the university landing pages:

To promote interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration, applicants are offered to collaborate with the non-academic sector (e.g. research institutes, industry) and other universities all over the world in addition to the mandatory collaboration within the EuroTech Universities Alliance. To ensure adequate incorporation of inter-sectoral aspects, applicants who already initiated contacts with industry should specify the purpose and expected outcome of the collaboration in terms of transfer of knowledge, training and career perspectives, the collaboration partner (including letter of intent), the timing and duration of research stays, secondments and other collaboration measures.

Please, note that if you are already working or studying at one of the 4 EuroTech Universities, be aware that the MSCA mobility rule applies for the fellowships and that you will only be eligible to apply for a fellowship at your current university if you have lived or worked less than 12 months out of the last 3 years in the country of the university. However, you can select a host at one of the other Eurotech Universities and collaborate with your current university as a co-host.

Moving to a new country

The EuroTech universities all have a flourishing community of staff and students of many different nationalities, and are open, inclusive and caring. They are well experienced in contracting and hosting international staff and offer support on relocating.